Bessemer's Bright Star restaurant, open since 1907, celebrates its 107th anniversary in style

BESSEMER, Alabama -- Seven years ago, Bessemer's Bright Star, which is regarded as the oldest continuing restaurant in Alabama, celebrated its 100th year in business.

And then that was it for anniversary celebrations.

Until this year.

"I started working here four years ago," says Bright Star general manager Andreas Anastassakis, "and after a while, I thought to myself, 'Why are they not celebrating this every year? Why did they just do it on the 100th year and then forget about it?' No other restaurant can say they have a 104th, 105th, 106th year birthday party."

So on Wednesday, June 18, the Bright Star, which opened in 1907, will celebrate its 107th year with a turn-back-the-clock, five-course wine dinner featuring some of the restaurant's most popular dishes through the decades paired with wines from Trinchero Family Estates.

"Because it is our first time doing this, we tried to make a menu that we are very familiar with executing but also make a menu that would show the different generations," Anastassakis says.

The fried snapper throats, for instance, date back to the 1930s, when Bill Koikos (the father of current owners Jimmy and Nicky Koikos) discovered the tender, meaty upper part of the snapper, which was typically thrown away, would be a great addition to the lunch menu.

The seafood gumbo was introduced in the 1960s by then-chef and co-owner Gus E. Sarris, who shared the recipe with Gwen Atkinson, a chef at the restaurant for 40 years. And when she retired 10 years, ago, Atkinson entrusted it to current chef Austin Davis.

The Bright Star's classic neon sign has been a beacon to hungry diners for decades. (Birmingham News file/Jerry Ayres)

The Greek-style beef tenderloin, which the Alabama Cattlemen's Association named the best steak in the state two years ago, came along in the 1970s, and the bread pudding has been a favorite on the dessert menu since the late Jamie Shannon of Commander's Palace served it at a "Taste of New Orleans" dinner in the 1980s.

With 107 years of recipes from which to choose, the Bright Star has many more dishes where those came from.

"Looking forward to the 108th and 109th years and so forth, we have other menus, older menus of things that we used to sell," Anastassakis says. And that's something that we look forward to doing in the future, is bringing back some of those dishes that were around a long time ago."

Wednesday's wine dinner will take place in the Bright Star's Dixie and Green rooms, which will be decked out to look the way they appeared more than a century ago, Anastassakis says.

"We are trying to emulate the set-up to look like the pictures that we have from 1907, how they decorated back then," he says. "So it's going to be all white tablecloths, white napkins. We are going to have centerpieces from that era and a violin player playing music from that era, as well."

The price is $107 per person, which includes a commemorative wine glass, and seating is limited to 107 guests. Only a few seats remain.

The Bright Star has been in the same family since it opened in 1907.

And just as Jimmy and Nicky Koikos are descendants of founder Tom Bonduris, who opened the restaurant shortly after he came to Bessemer from Greece in the early 1900s, Andreas Anastassakis and the Koikos brothers are cousins a generation removed.

Anastassakis and his father, Philip Anastassakis, owned a steak restaurant in the Toronto area, and after Andreas' father died, Jimmy Koikos invited him to move here to help run the Bright Star.

That was four years ago, and Andreas is part of the Bright Star family now.

"My wife and I, we really didn't think twice about the opportunity because we knew about the history of the Bright Star from my father," he says. "He always looked up to the Bright Star and everything we did, he always compared to the Bright Star.

"When they were planning the 100-year birthday party, my father was very excited about it, and he talked about it for three year before the party ever happened. He said, 'There is no way I'm missing my cousins' 100-year birthday party.' And sure enough, he left me to run the restaurant so he could go to the 100-year party.

"He had such a great time here," Anastassakis adds. "He passed way a short time after, and I know that was one of the highlights of his life to come here and see their success."

Now, Andreas Anastassakis, the latest generation in the Bright Star's 107-year-old family tree, gets to be part of that success, too.

"I tell you something, he is doing a heck of a job," Jimmy Koikos says. "He is a smart restaurant man. He's happy here."